Chapter 18 - Power
The entire human race went into overload mode. Resources turned into weaponry at an incredible rate.
In just 5 years, the world advanced by decades. They filled the first 3 years with the war, before it set into a cold war.
Although it lasted 3 years, strangely. The amount of casualties numbered in just thousands, which comparatively seemed to make no sense.
Of course, such a number knew only the leaders. More than dozens of thousands of people had 'died' and disappeared off the grid.
In reality, they stationed them in the mountain range, separating the powerhouses. In lieu of their predicament.
They named it the range of Hope. Quite a few generals over the 3 years had signs of corruption like laundering money, resources, etc.
In fact, most of it went straight into the mega project. It began small as they scoured people one by one.
The most 2 important parts. Talent and temperament. They screened a lot of potential people for a month or more.
If their mind stood on the side of the humanity, then they'd get a reason number 1 why they did everything in secrecy.
For the lowest ranked members. They knew that something would soon attack humans and would threaten the integrity of the entire human race.
The inner and core members watched the video themselves. Over the span of years, with the greater technology, they were able to zoom in and see what those things were.
Morpheus couldn't believe it. All of those green masses weren't anything more than vines, plants and many other things.
Yet. it seemed unnatural. Something that shouldn't belong in this world. On the other hand, the more alien looking air crafts looked like something sci-fi.
Almost all of them looked the same, except for the larger ones. Over the years, the situation didn't change much.
The battles on the foreign continent continued. And to their relief. The green mass near the Empire didn't advance a single bar.
Some observed that it even got pushed back a bit.
...
"Pilot 022, get ready to drop the payload."
"Roger." said a man thousands of bars in the sky as he sighed to himself. He would be the only one in the vicinity who would see what kind of monstrosity humans could make.
Everyone stared at the screens as the man flew away as far as he could. Minutes later, the ground shook.
The pilot's hands began to tremble as he watched the destruction with his own eyes. A shockwave brought him out of his stupor as it almost brought down the plane and him with it.
"What have they created..." He said to himself as he refused to watch any further.
Just the thought of something like this dropping into cities brought him terror. Absolute death and nothing more.
If whatever wanted to attack the humanity survived this. Then there'd be only one remaining explanation.
"God." He said unknowingly as the plane landed back in a hidden base an hour later.
Right now, the explosion took place thousands of kilobars away from humanity. In the northwest of the Spirit continent.
A place filled with wildlife and nothing more. With it being so far away from the mainland, they tested their most potent weaponry there many times.
The scientists and researchers watched the explosion through the screen. Although they couldn't quite imagine the scene.
It still looked majestic. Some sighed and thought if they did the right thing by participating in something like this.
Even if they fought off those monsters. Would the greedy leaders get rid of those weapons?
Most of them consoled themselves and returned to work. They still had to despatch various personnel to see the effects of destruction after it cools down.
Especially radioactivity. After all, the 1 megaton yield was no joke. They created the unit for grams and kilograms with bars instead of centimetres.
1 cubic centibar held a different kind of power than 1 cubic centimetre.
Nevertheless, the mission continued. Morpheus planned for 1 gigaton worth of TNT explosion that he could send against whatever it was.
While the thing didn't get any closer to the human race. The palpitations he felt never left.
Sometimes, they grew in power and other times; they grew quiet. Like a feeling, that they held a gun against your head 24/7.
At times, the gun is hot because it shot many times before and other times it is cold. Waiting for its first victim.
...
The world, on the other hand, prospered. With a plenty of resources and growth in medicine and technology.
Deaths plummeted. Birth skyrocketed and people generally took it well. Some didn't like the 'cold war', but with the suppression of news, most didn't know much about it.
Though they never let the public forget. A video where a newly built town got mercilessly bombarded to smithereens by hundreds of rockets played every year.
Reminder that war isn't a fun game. Morpheus knew about the drawbacks and benefits of globalization with the internet and pushing for development.
The greatest drawback would be a lack of control. Once created, people might eventually find out what is going on.
One leak from the two primary bases would spell disaster. So, Morpheus talked with the leaders, and they decided to postpone it.
In a decade. There would be a massive change straight to slimmer PCs and overall great performance.
After all, their fabs would soon enter the nanobar realm. Meaning, transistors would be smaller than even DNA.
Computational power aside. Half of the entire budget centered on space and communication that came with it.
Unbeknownst to the public. More than a dozen satellites orbited the planet every day.
Hundreds of people kept an eye on the potential enemy without a break. Some proposed to see what it is in reality.
However, that soon got shut down. Such a decision needed the approval of all leaders unanimously.
With Morpheus firmly against it and with the support of the Barfords. The plan would never go through.
Of course, that is when everyone is playing by the rules...
...
"Are you sure something like that exists? I mean, except that 'spirit' that no one actually saw except the higher ups, no other supernatural exists. Also, how can it survive volcanic eruptions all the time combined with other disasters!" One man said in disbelief.
He communicated with his teammates through his microphone as they were currently in the air.
Their helicopter soon crossed the Empire's border as they went on with their banter.
"Does it matter, really? All we have to do is to see it with our eyes and take some samples if we are lucky." Said the man before he gestured a bunch of symbols.
'The senators are greedy pigs, anyway. Not much we can do.' He said in sign language as everyone else began to laugh.
They didn't know if higher ups did not rig their communication, so they preferred to trash talking their superiors in this way.
In no time, the environment changed. Grass turned into desolate ash filled ground with no life present.
"Report! Grade 2 region destroying tornado at 4 o'clock. Grade 3 city level at 11 o'clock and one more 4 kilobars away at 7 o'clock with the strength of 4." said a leading pilot as the formation of dozens of helicopters split up.
The cheerful atmosphere turned silent in an instant. Such drastic change...
"Hey Greg, you think Gods actually exist?" He asked his best friend. Greg smiled grimly and tightened his hold of his weapon.
"Can anything else than something godly explain this?" He asked back sarcastically as he could hear a tinge of despair.
Just those powerful tornadoes would be able to seal the fate of dozens of thousands.
And they haven't met grade 1 tornado yet. When they were about to continue, a rapid change occurred.
"Alpha 2 and 3, take your squadron and get ready to dodge!" said the leading pilot of alpha 1.
"Roger that."
"Roger."
Both soon replied as they split off in groups of 3s. Thanks to the constant surveillance, they knew where the volcanoes sat.
BOOOOM
Out of nowhere, 3 kilobars away. A massive explosion hurled thousands of tons of debris into the air.
Ash blocked out the Sun in an instant as they lost communication with other alpha teams.
Right now, they could only pray that the intel was right. Over the next hour, they kept hearing massive explosions all around them.
One of the helicopters of alpha 1 had been almost lost when a massive chunk of falling debris nearly took their lives.
"Hey, Henry. They said the monsters are fighting this every day, right?" Greg asked his friend.
"I... Yes... They should be fighting this." Henry said as he looked at his best friend. Trained professionals with plenty of missions under their belt.
If they threw them into a fight against 100, they would win. But the force of nature? Impossible.
And then, the ash blocking out the surroundings suddenly vanished. Heaven and hell and yet the heaven seemed much more terrifying.
Huge, incredibly long vines exploded as magma floated before it got forcibly devoured by the surrounding monsters.
Dozens of visible grade 1 tornadoes ripped through them as it replaced them in an instant.
Henry relaxed his hold on his weapon and took a look at his friend. Both of them looked at each other.
Through their masks, they both understood each other.
Despair.